North Pole/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim & Moby Birds chirp as Tim and Moby walk through the woods. Tim observes his compass needle spinning. TIM: Well, that's funny. Tim taps his compass. MOBY: Beep. Moby holds a magnet. TIM: Hey, stop doing that. The compass needle stops spinning. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, What country is the North Pole in? From, Fygar. It actually depends which North Pole you're talking about. The Geographic North Pole, or true north, is located in the Arctic Ocean, outside any country's borders. True north is the point where the earth's axis of rotation meets the northern surface of the planet. An X marks the Geographic North Pole on a globe. The Arctic Ocean and the Geographic North Pole are labeled. A dotted line drawn from the X to the south of the planet is labeled "axis of rotation." A circular arrow pointing right shows the planet's rotation. TIM: It's at 90 degrees North latitude, where all longitude lines on the planet meet. Latitude lines appear on the globe in 30-degree increments and are labeled. Longitude lines are shown to converge at 90 degrees North. TIM: Hundreds of miles south of that is the North Magnetic Pole, the spot where Earth's magnetic field points directly up and down. X's on the globe show both North poles. Curved dotted lines show the magnetic field around the globe that goes from the North Magnetic Pole to the South pole. TIM: That's where compasses point. Tim's compass needle points to the North Magnetic Pole. TIM: That's in Canada right now, but the magnetic poles actually move a little bit every year as the Earth's magnetic field changes. The globe shows Earth's magnetic field in motion. TIM: When people talk about the North Pole, they usually mean the geographic one. MOBY: Beep. An image shows a striped pole in ice. TIM: No, there's not an actual pole at the North Pole, because there's no land there. It's covered in moving sea ice for most of the year, and sometimes open water in the height of summer. An animation shows the pole moving with the ice and then falling into water. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, the North Pole's summer lasts from around June 21 to September 21, like the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. It's not what you would call warm. In July, it gets up to about 0 degrees Celsius, the freezing point of water. An image shows the North Pole. The dates Tim mentions are circled on monthly calendars. Then a thermometer shows 0 degrees Celsius. MOBY: Beep. TIM: That's nothing compared to the winter temperatures as low as −43 degrees Celsius, not counting the wind chill factor. A thermometer shows minus −43 degrees Celsius. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Hey, that's not all. The North Pole's placement at the top of the world makes its winters dark 24 hours a day. An image shows a dark day with a starry sky. TIM: As the earth orbits the sun, the tilt of its axis stays constant. An animation shows Earth on its axis orbiting the sun. Earth's Geographic North Pole is marked with an X. TIM: So from around September 21 to March 21, the North Pole faces away from the sun, getting no sunlight. An animation shows Earth's orbit around the sun during winter, when the North Pole faces away from the sun. An inset image shows a dark winter day. TIM: And from March 21 to September 21, the sun never sets. The animation shows Earth's position around the sun during summer, when the North Pole faces toward the sun. An inset image shows a sunny summer day. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Because it's so cold, and there's only water beneath the ice, not a lot of land animals can make it to the North Pole. Seals, polar bears, and some species of birds can all survive there. Images show these animals. TIM: As for humans, the American explorer Robert Peary is considered the first person to have reached the North Pole, in 1909. But some analyses of his route suggest he fell a little short of his goal. An image shows Robert Peary with his team that includes a dog. Peary holds an American flag. TIM: These days, icebreaker ships visit the North Pole every year. An illustration shows people at the North Pole in front of an icebreaker ship. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yes, it's actually true that the polar ice caps are melting. You notice it most in the summer, when the area of polar ice is smallest. Since 1979, the size of the Arctic summer ice cap has shrunk by more than 40 percent. At this rate, all of the winter ice could disappear by 2030. A map shows the shrinking polar cap ice with the North Pole marked. Then the ice disappears completely. MOBY: Beep. TIM: It's probably caused by a combination of global warming due to human activity and what may be a natural warming cycle. But whatever the cause, the melting of the ice caps at the North and South Poles would have profound effects on the environment. Local ecosystems would be destroyed, and sea levels around the world would rise. An animation shows water flooding a city street. Vehicles and other objects float in front of a skyscraper. The water goes up several stories of the building and keeps rising. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, people need to conserve more energy. The less fossil fuel we use, the more we can slow down global warming. Images shows an oil barrel, a natural gas canister, a gasoline can, and a lump of coal. MOBY: Beep. Moby opens his head. A solar panel rises from it. TIM: You're switching to solar energy? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, that's a start. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts